Theban Legion

The Theban Legion was a Roman legion of 6,666 troops that served as the garrison of the city of Thebes in Egypt. The Roman emperor Maximian sent them to Gaul in 282 AD with the goal of crushing the Burgundii, and Saint Maurice commanded the legion. However, the legion converted en masse to Christianity, then a heretic faith in the Roman Empire, and Maximian had the legion decimated at Aguanum after it refused to perform sacrifices to him. Most of its leaders were executed, but survivor Alexander of Brescia would continue to preach in northern Italy until his execution in 303.